Events Calendar

Munushian Seminar - Peidong Yang

Speaker: Peidong Yang, UC Berkeley

Talk Title: Nanowire Technology and Terawatt Challenge

Abstract: Semiconductor nanowires, by definition, typically have cross-sectional dimensions that can be tuned from 2–200 nm, with lengths spanning from hundreds of nanometers to millimeters. After more than a decade of research, nanowires can now be synthesized and assembled with specific compositions, heterojunctions and architectures. This has led to a host of nanowire photonic and electronic devices. Because of their unique structural, chemical and physical properties, these nanoscopic one-dimensional nanostructures can also play a significant role in terawatt-scale energy conversion and storage. Currently the amount of energy required worldwide is on the scale of terawatts, and the percentage
of renewable energy in the current energy portfolio is quite limited. Developing of cost-effective clean energy technology
becomes imperative. I will show two examples from my group, approaching this problem in two different directions. The first relates to saving energy, by developing nanostructured silicon thermoelectrics to do waste heat recovery; and the second is to develop nanostructures for solar energy conversion, either directly to electricity or to liquid fuels through artificial photosynthesis.

Biography: Peidong Yang received a B.S. in chemistry from University of Science and Technology of China in 1993 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University in 1997. He did postdoctoral research at University of California, Santa Barbara
before joining the faculty in the department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1999. He is currently professor in the Department of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering; and a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is S. K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair Professor in Energy. He was recently elected as MRS Fellow, and the member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prof. Yang is the founder of the Nanoscience subdivision within American Chemical Society. He has co-founded two startups Nanosys Inc. and Alphabet Energy Inc. He is the recipient of MRS Medal, Baekeland Medal, Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, MRS Young Investigator
Award, Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics, ACS Pure Chemistry Award, and Alan T. Waterman Award. His main research interest is in the area of one dimensional semiconductor nanostructures and their applications in nanophotonics and energy conversion.

Host: EE-Electrophysics

More Info: ee.usc.edu/news/munushian

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 131

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news/munushian